It is well known that sanitary conditions are desirable when making and/or packaging beer as bacteria may thrive and grow in, and ultimately spoil, the beverage. Accordingly, many precautions are commonly taken to avoid bacteria and other contaminants from entering the beverage. One such pre-caution is the practice of “capping on foam” in which a container is filled with beer that is caused to foam out of the container during the capping process. For example, pre-carbonated beer may be injected into a bottle under conditions which cause the beer to off-gas carbon dioxide thereby generating a frothy head of foam which overflows out of the bottle. The foam may be desirable during capping as it may prevent contaminants and oxygen from reaching the interior of the bottle prior to a cap being placed onto and sealing the bottle. A cap may therefore be placed over the foam and onto the bottle and secured to the bottle, e.g., via a pilfer ring secured to a lip of the bottle.
Capping a threaded bottle on beer foam, however, may result in beer residue being trapped under the cap around the bottle threads. Over time this beer residue may become sticky or even contaminated with mold or bacteria. Traditionally, solutions to this problem involve spraying the exterior of the bottle cap with sprayers located above the bottle, similar to cleaning a car in a car wash. However, these sprayers are often inaccurate and the cleaning fluid insufficiently covers the areas that require cleaning. Furthermore, this method requires excessive amounts of water to reach the threaded area of a bottle. That is, prior techniques are imprecise and wasteful.